Nancy Long's letter included the excellent
statement "If you want safer streets, then you have to help make
homes safer" [July 24]. Australia has an organization named COMIC
[Children of Mentally Ill Consumers], which recognizes that children of the
mentally ill deserve treatment and assistance as they face the terror of
living with a parent with a mental illness. They have books, movies, and
guidelines that this country has yet to provide in the school system.

Long saw firsthand how serving on the front lines in
war butchers the soul and how the children of the mentally ill end up
fighting their own war without the support and assistance they so
desperately need. Our focus, at present, seems to be on cheap, shallow
gestures of patriotism when the real patriot will look at how each one of
us can make a difference that lasts. One very important means is protecting
our children's lives and souls so they can be kinder, stronger, and
smarter.

This country is at a crossroads, and each of us is
key to the direction we go from here. The love of violence [is turning us
into] brainless, gun-toting, fist-waving thugs. Reaching down deep and
changing course — now that's a mark of character. Anne LogueSpringfield

BRIAN FITZGERALD ACTED HONORABLY

A letter writer in the July 24 issue, in reference to
the issue of whether to offer a CWLP project manager a large increase in
pay, stated, "Well, he didn't get his way, so he quit." I
think it's time to stop vilifying this person.

He received an attractive offer from out of state and
immediately advised CWLP's management. Recognizing his value to the
utility, management asked him if he would consider staying if CWLP would be
able to match the pay he had been offered. He said yes but indicated, due
to other considerations, that he really was inclined to take the offer.

Ultimately, when there seemed to be considerable
doubt that the pay increase would be approved, and with the time limit on
the offer approaching, he accepted it and tendered his resignation. To me,
that series of events is a far cry from "he didn't get his way,
so he quit."

Dick McLane

Springfield

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED IN NEW SALEM

After Saturday's shape-note singing at New
Salem State Historic Site, it took me an hour and 15 minutes to gather my
music and close up the Second Berry-Lincoln Store. A steady stream of
visitors kept asking me about the store, Abraham Lincoln, shape notes (I
showed them how to sight-read "Amazing Grace") and, yes, the
budget cuts and layoffs that are crippling Illinois' state historic
sites.

In Springfield's little world of heritage
tourism, the cuts have created a full-blown crisis. So I'll cut to
the chase — if you want to do more than complain about state
politics, please consider volunteering at a historic site.

New Salem still plans to train new interpreters from
9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, and Saturday, Aug. 23. To register,
call 217-632-4000.

Several interpreters from Lincoln Log Cabin State
Historic Site joined us Saturday, and six to eight visitors borrowed
songbooks and joined in the old songs. But New Salem was a crossroads town,
and we faced an empty crossroads. Across the way was Sam Hill's
store. Closed. On the other corner, Doctor Allen's. Closed. Only
Rutledge Tavern was open. And once the singers left, Second Berry-Lincoln
was closed, too.

Volunteers won't solve the budget crisis, but
if I keep a building open for a few hours in my spare time, it can make a
difference to the visitors who are in town that day to see the Lincoln
sites. It's the most, and perhaps the least, any of us can do.

Pete Ellertsen

Volunteer interpreter

New Salem

NO BAILOUTS FOR BUSINESSES

I was amazed to hear an economist on PBS say that the
taxpayers were interested in shoring up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Along
with this I have noted that the media seem to confuse stock-market
transactions with the internal private accounting that a business would do.

This economist seems not to know that taxpayers have
already been had. Many have lost their homes due to the subprime swindle;
innumerable others have lost their jobs; countless others are in financial
difficulties due to usurious interest rates on credit cards and other types
of loans.

This taxpayer is not interested in rescuing any
business establishment.

Fred J. Dietz Sr.

Springfield

NOT EVERYONE CAN ACCESS THE NET

I enjoyed the commentary in the July 31 issue [Roland
Klose, "Things I've learned."]. I was very interested to
read that you once listed to shortwave radio as a source of international
news. As you may know many international broadcasters are now only
available on the World Wide Web. Some however remain on shortwave and I
regularly listen to Radio Australia, Radio Netherlands, and Radio Sweden.
Lately, the Voice of Russia is booming in nightly.

Occasionally I can catch the Voice of America relayed
from the Philippines. The VOA's programs have been decimated during
the Bush years and not just on shortwave but online also. The latest move
was to discontinue Russian on shortwave. The folks in Washington, D.C.,
don't seem to realize that not everyone in the world can access the
Internet for pennies a day the way we do in the U.S. In Europe you pay for
connect time as if you were making a long distance phone call.

Martin Gallas

Jacksonville

SUGAR IS A DEATH SENTENCE NOW

Two weeks ago I found a new restaurant (name
withheld) with a killer nontraditional chili. I told a lot of people. This
Sunday I went back, wanting good chili. I got a cup and it was sweet, not
in the good way. I asked about it and I was told that the owner only wanted
his recipe — and it contains sugar. It was bad. I got a cup of
stuffed green pepper soup. Sounds great. It was sweet. The owner has a
sugar recipe for that too. I am overweight and have relatives with
diabetes. In the '70s surprise sugary foods were OK. It is a death
sentence now. Do we really need more sugar in almost everything?

Patrick Johnopolos

Springfield

A HOLLOW — AND COSTLY — PROMISE

For those who have a misplaced faith in big
government, such as the Health Care for America Now Coalition, universal
health care is the cause du jour. Having no sound plan for achieving their goals, they
refuse to allow an intellectually honest assessment, which would reveal
that universal health care, provided by big government, is a hollow promise
— hollow because "universal," "quality,"
"guaranteed," and "affordable" are mutually
exclusive goals. Universal, quality, and guaranteed all cost money —
lots and lots of money. Efforts to limit profits, implement electronic
recordkeeping, and regulate standards may reduce but not resolve the need
for lots and lots of cash. Many, if not all, of those efforts just may make
things worse — and even the best foreign versions fall short. It
seems that the only universal aspect of universal health care through big
government is the fact that politicians will continue to promise something
for nothing. That trick never works.

Tom Rand

Naperville

TODAY'S FREEDOM RIDERS

Our Amtrak train and bus riders are the
"freedom riders" of the 21st century. These riders spearhead
partial boycotts of the oil industry and OPEC everyday. When these new
riders hear the sound of a train or bus door slam, these smart people know
that the oil barons, the petroleum speculators, and the leaders of OPEC can
no longer pick their pockets. When these "green soldiers" hear
the sound of a train engineer or a bus driver blowing his or her horn, they
know it is the sweet music of action: action to cut oil consumption and
prices.

Our candidates for the presidency and state and local
offices need to support these green patriots. These candidates need to have
the backbone to find sources of revenue to fund the expansion of our public
transportation networks and free us all from the slavery of OPEC. Dick PeacockManassas, Va.

CORRECTION

Atrazine, dicamba, and 2,4-dicholorophenoxyacetic
acid are commonly used in herbicides, not insecticides. A recent Earth Talk
column was incorrect ["Green-friendly pesticides," July 24].